Hawaii State Ombudsman, John McDermott, Interviewed on the Expansion of the Ombudsman Program

January 22, 2023

Hawaii State Ombudsman, John McDermott, was interviewed by The Garden Island, on the expansion of the Ombudsman program. In 2022, then Hawaii Governor, David Ige, included in his budget funds to add an additional five full-time ombudsmen — one on Kaua‘i, one on Maui, one in Hilo, one in Kona, and an additional ombudsman on O‘ahu. This way the Ombudsman program will have a more frequent presence in facilities. However, the Ombudsman program has to wait for the state Department of Health to complete a series of bureaucratic procedures before the hiring process can begin, and with every passing day that McDermott is unable to fill the positions, he grows more worried that the funds may never come.

Read the full article.